Practice sleeve

ABSTRACT

A practice sleeve having an elongated V-shaped trough configuration which is slipped over a conventional baseball bat and prevents the ball from going any great distance, due to its V shape, if the ball comes in contact with the sleeve in anything but direct center. The sleeve also absorbs the greater part of the energy from a pitched ball when it strikes dead center preventing the ball from going any considerable distance. The sleeve also forces the player to swing the bat in a direct equal plane.

United States Patent [191 Sept. 3, 1974 Greaney PRACTICE SLEEVE [76]Inventor: Daniel F. Greaney, 85 Chesbrough St., West Roxbury, Mass.02134 22 Filed: July 11, 1973 21 Appl. No.: 378,315

Primary -ExaminerAnt0n O. Oechsle Assistant ExaminerTheatrice Brown [57] ABSTRACT A practice sleeve having an elongated V-shaped troughconfiguration which is slipped over a conventional baseball bat andprevents the ball from going any great distance, due to its V shape, ifthe ball comes in contact with the sleeve in anything but direct center.The sleeve also absorbs the greater part of the energy from a pitchedball when it strikes dead center preventing the ball from going anyconsiderable distance. The sleeve also forces the player to swing thebat in a direct equal plane.

4 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PRACTICE SLEEVE This invention relates topractice sleeves and more particularly to sleeves which enable playersto practice batting baseballs in small confined areas.

The game of baseball requires a rather large playing field and asubstantial number of players. When the ball is pitched the playerstrikes the ball, which is a hard ball, with a very hard bat causing theball to travel quite a few feet. In playing the game the large field isappropriate, however in practice the large playing field is notavailable to most youths. Moreover if the ball field were availablethere probably would not be enough players who could run after the balland retrieve it. Accordingly some device which could be slipped over thebat and enable the ball player to hit the ball with all of his forcejust as he would in a game, yet prevent the ball from traveling anyexcessive distance would be greatly desired.

Many special bats have been advanced which prevent the ball fromtraveling any great distance and many specialized balls have also beenadvanced which are light and can not be hit any great distance. Howeverboth these bats and balls do not provide the practice for the pitcher orthe man at bat in any way near what he will encounter in an actualbaseball game. The present invention meets all of the requirements ofsafety and provides the exact duplicate of what you will encounter inthe actual playing of a baseball game while preventing the ball fromtraveling any great distances.

Another requirement in the practice of hitting baseballs is to force theplayer to swing the bat through a given plane such that when it comes incontact with the ball it will send it the maximum amount of distance ina prescribed direction so that it will not go on either side of the foulline. The present invention causes the ball to pop fly or become a deadgrounder if it is not hit precisely in a given plane. Therefore theballplayer knows if he is swinging through the required are by theresponse the ball makes immediately. Therefore the present inventionprovides an additional educational input to the student enabling him toprevent the development of an improper swing, or alternatively providehim with the necessary feel for corrective action if he has an improperswing already.

The prior art devices did not and can not provide the feel that oneencounters in an actual game. Sometimes weights are added to the batto-enable the player to swing the bat around with the additional weightsuch that when he does get to the batters box and removes the weight itwill feel much lighter such that he will have more accurate control overthe bat. The present invention provides a slight bit of weight, but doesnot provide such a great amount that will alter the players swing as heremoves the practice sleeve and actually presents himself to the ball inan actual game. However the slight additional weight does enable theplayer to feel more confident without the sleeve after he has used it agreat deal then with it thus further improving his game after utilizingthe present invention.

Therefore an object of the present invention is to provide a practicesleeve for baseball bats. Another object of the present invention is toprovide a practice sleeve which corrects the swing of players.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an attachment forbats which prevents baseballs from going any great distance.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a weightattachment to baseball bats which enable the player to feel more controlover the bat.

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will bebetter understood from the following specifications especially when readin conjunction with the attached drawings of which:

FIG. 1 is a player swinging a bat with a practice sleeve.

FIG. 2 is an end view of a bat with a sleeve on it and a baseballheading toward it.

FIG. 3 is a practice sleeve from a perspective view.

FIG. 4 is an end view of the practice sleeve with the various points ofimpact of baseballs on it.

Referring now to FIG. 1 we see a baseball player 11 swinging a bat 13,this bat has a practice sleeve 12 on it.

Referring now to FIG. 2 we see the end view of the bat the baseballplayer is swinging. The ball 15 is directed' at the V tip 19 of thepractice sleeve 12. Shock cord 20 extends from one end of the practicesleeve to the other end and holds the practice sleeve against the batvery tightly.

Referring now to FIG. 3 we see the practice sleeve 12 and two shockcords 20 and 21 this enables the practice sleeve to fit very snugly ontothe bat where it is of different diameters at its top and neck. Theshock cord takes up this difference.

Referring now to FIG. 4 we see that the ball if it deviates at all fromthe dead center of the bat it will in one case pop fly indicated byarrow 21 or become a dead grounder 22.

In either event the ball is easily retrieved by the players because itwill not travel very far, however best of all it will indicate to theperson swinging the hat that he has not caused the bat to swing in thearc which would line directly up with the ball such that he would innormal game get a piece of the ball and cause it to travel such adistance so that he would be able to get a home run.

On the other hand if the ball does strike as arrow 23 shows tip of the V19 then the practice sleeve will compress as shown by 24 causing theshock cords to strech out and most of the energy that the ball had isabsorbed and accordingly if the ball bounces off of the bat it will onlygo a few feet and drop to the ground. If the practice sleeve had notbeer? attached to the bat none of this energy would have been absorbedand the ball and it would be translated into motion and the ball wouldgo several hundred feet if hit that hard.

It can be seen then that the device forces the ball player to swing thebat in and are which lines up with the pitched ball such that the ballinvariably hits a specific point on the bat and that point only. Thebaseball bat has a rounded blunted surface so accordingly the ball canactually hit upper or lower sections of the arc and still go fairlystraight on. But, with the practice sleeve the point of the plane towhich the bat swings is very pronounced. Accordingly a slight deviationcauses the ball to pop fly or to become dead grounded. On the other handwhen the ball hits the V of such material that it compresses from a veryhard impact and causes the energy to be distributed along the surfaceand dissipated as friction between the V and the bat and in the shockcord.

The material which the practice sleeve is made out of is preferably aheavy sturdy plastic of a number of varities, however if itis'fiberglass reinforced it is even better. The material should beapproximately A inch in order to best absorb the energy of a baseball.The shock cords and 21 can be of the /8 inch variety of elasticmaterials. It can also be made of springs such that they expand andabsorb energy when the ball is hit by the bat at the same time they keepthe practice sleeve in close contact at all times and prevent it fromsliding off of the bat. The practice sleeve could be varied considerablyin shape, however the essence of the invention calls for a V shapetogether with some elastic connection which keeps the practice sleeve inclose contact with the bat preventing it from sliding off when the batis swung and moreover absorbs energy when the baseball compresses theplastic.

It will be seen that if the ball only hits the bat with a small amountof energy, the practice sleeve will not be compressed and therefore theball will not give up its energy. However such a lightly thrown balldoes not have sufficient energy to create a problem in any event.However when a substantial amount of energy is put into the ball and theplayer swings the bat with sufficient force then the V will compressentirely absorbing most of the energy in the ball. There is obvious apoint Where the batter and the baseball combine more energy than can beabsorbed. However this is judiciously fixed by having a stiff enoughplastic such that this point is far beyond the average players capacitywhere no problem will be presented in having the ball go more then orfeet with the strongest pitcher and batter combinatiomTherefore thisinvention can be used in back yards by players who wish to practice withonly one other player the pitcher. ltis seen therefore to be anexcellent practice device for teaching one to swing the bat properly atthe same time it enables them to do it in their back yard with safetyand without the necessity of additional players. v

Although I have described by invention with reference to specificapparatus 1 do not wish to be confined thereby. I wish only to belimited by the appended claims of which:

I claim:

1. A baseball practice device comprising a sleeve in combination with abat, said sleeve comprising: a pair of elongated substantiallyrectangular shaped planar members joined together along a lengthwiseside to form a'narrow yieldable edge with said members divergingoutwardly from said edge in a substantially V- shaped configuration,holding means for attaching said sleeve to said bat, said holding meanscomprising elongated resilient members attached across the apex of saidV such that said bat will be held between said planar members and saidresilient members when said sleeve is attached to said bat, said sleevebeing substantially shorter than said bat.

2. A practice sleeve according to claim 1 wherein said sleeve is stiffplastic approximately one quarter inch in thickness.

3. A practice sleeve according to claim 2 wherein said holding means isone quarter inch shock cord.

4. A practice sleeve according to claim 2 wherein said holding means issections of steel springs.

1. A baseball practice device comprising a sleeve in combination with abat, said sleeve comprising: a pair of elongated substantiallyrectangular shaped planar members joined together along a lengthwiseside to form a narrow yieldable edge with said members divergingoutwardly from said edge in a substantially Vshaped configuration,holding means for attaching said sleeve to said bat, said holding meanscomprising elongated resilient members attached across the apex of saidV such that said bat will be held between said planar members and saidresilient members when said sleeve is attached to said bat, said sleevebeing substantially shorter than said bat.
 2. A practice sleeveaccording to claim 1 wherein said sleeve is stiff plastic approximatelyone quarter inch in thickness.
 3. A practice sleeve according to claim 2wherein said holding means is one quarter inch shock cord.
 4. A practicesleeve according to claim 2 wherein said holding means is sections ofsteel springs.